EquipmentForgebreaker: Has an ebony coloured haft worked with gold and silver to represent a lightning bolt. The head of the hammer is barbed and shaped as an eagle's beak. The claw is in the shape of tapered wings. Forged by Fulgrim, beneath Mount Naradnya (Terra), the greatest forge of the Urals, during a challenge between himself and Ferrus Manus that occurred the first time they met.

He also wields an "ornate pistol of enormous calibre"

Armour: Forged by Master Adept Malevolus of the Mechanicum of Mars. Shoulder guards are dog-toothed and the cuirass has a high gorget (you can only see half his face). All armour plates are black with studded silver trimming. Bears the Iron Gauntlet on his shoulder pad (which one is not specified). Wears a cloak of glittering mail.

AppearanceForearms coated in metal (acquired during the slaying of Asirnoth); silver, pupil-less eyes. Close-cropped black hair. "Battered" features and many scars from previous conflicts (not a pretty primarch). His forearms are wreathed in blue flames when using them to shape metal.

Personal Bodyguard: The MorlocksAn all-Terminator formation with armour the colour of unpainted iron. There are at least ten companies of them, though the size of a company is not specified.

Miscellaneous Last sees the Emperor on Orina Septimus (a planet of crystal and acid).Was at some point campaigning in the Kaelor Nebula.

Gabriel Santar, First Captain, Equerry to Ferrus Manus

Clan:Avernii

Company: First

Armour: Uses both power and terminator armour. Neither's appearance is described.

Equipment: Uses twin Lightning Claws when equipped with Terminator Armour. No description of loadout when in power armour.

Appearance: Facial features likened to a cliff. Has had both legs and his left arm replaced with bionics. After Fulgrim's betrayal, has heart, lungs and stomach replaced as well.

These two characters are the most prominent in any scene featuring the Iron Hands. Following is a list of other named/described characters in the 52nd Expedition:

Captain Balhaan: Commander of the strike cruiser Ferrum, Kaargul Clan. Wears MkIV plate with a knee-length cloak of white wool with silver embroidery. Is very interested in ancient history. Was previously the commander of a fleet on Medusa's oceans.

Diederik: Iron Father, unknown clan, assigned to joint command of the Ferrum after Balhaan was ambushed by the Diasporex.

Astropath Cistor: Master of Astropaths for the 52nd Expedition. Has been honoured by having his right arm replaced with bionics.

Iron Dream: Ship boarded by the Diasporex. Boarding repulsed, but Diasporex Command Ship destroys it with an "almost casual" broadside.

Metallus: Batlle-Barge destroyed by the Diasporex.

Miscellaneous

Anvilarium: Assembly Hall on the Fist of Iron. Cavernous, with enormous pistons in the wall and black iron gates. No seating supplied and discussion is encouraged. All bar the Morlocks kneel on entrance of Ferrus Manus, who hands Forgebreaker to the First Captain while the Standard Bearers with the Iron Gauntlett and Ferrus Manus' personal banner follow him around the room. Ferrus Manus recovers Forgebreaker at the end of the assembly and (it would seem) uses it to punctuate his final statements.

The Iron Forge: Ferrus Manus' Inner Sanctum. Walls made of glassy basalt. There is an anvil made of gold and iron in the centre of the room. Contains a Firedrake banner presented to Ferrus Manus by Vulkan of the Salamanders in honor of his skill. Next to this banner is a gun made by Ferrus Manus for Vulkan. The muzzle is shaped as a dragon, the magazine is top-loading and fires "Sunfire" (Plasma?). Vulkan left it there because, Ferrus suspects, he does not trust anything that hasn't been touched by fire in it's making (he carries it into battle on Istvaan). None save the Primarchs were allowed in before Fulgrim's betrayal. This rule was waived while they were trying to get a message through the warp storms.

The Iron Column: Roll of Honour aboard the Fist of Iron. Not reserved for Astartes (members of the telepathic choir trying to reach Terra after Fulgrim's betrayal had their names inscribed upon it when they died).

Torg - February 19, 2008 08:14 AM (GMT)

That's some good knowledge of the Iron hands,Weiss good job there!

Weiss - February 19, 2008 08:25 AM (GMT)

Cheers, haven't updated in a while, got some busy lunchtimes... I'm hoping to get some done tomorrow. Got two pages of notes to write up... <_<

Torg - February 19, 2008 08:54 AM (GMT)

So write em up man! can't wait to read it.(incidently,I started on a Santar based off of what I knowany info on him?weapons?what he looked like under the helmet ?) :huh:

Weiss - February 19, 2008 09:32 AM (GMT)

He had craggy features, like his primarch (his face was compared to a cliff-face...), Both legs have been replaced and so has his left arm. Not sure what weapons he uses in power armour (the BOLS rules might be a good reference, they have him down with a power weapon and servo-arm), but in termi armour, it's double lightning claws all the way (note that he isn't part of the Morlocks so would probably have the normal legion colour scheme).

Torg - February 20, 2008 12:37 AM (GMT)

So what would you use for him in Power armour? I can't find a good head for him either,any ideas?

Weiss - February 20, 2008 08:14 AM (GMT)

I would use the set of bionic legs from the Iron Hands box and a MkIV torso (from BT sprue or Forgeworld). The left arm would come from the Commander sprue (the one with the chainsword), but I would remove the hand and stick on a power weapon one. For the head, I would prbably go for the terminator sergeant one (from the tactical termies, the one that's grimacing).

Ekaddon - February 20, 2008 08:17 AM (GMT)

Nice work, quite handy. ;)

I´d do Santar as you said, Weiss. The terminator sgt.-head is a good choice.

Torg - February 20, 2008 08:34 AM (GMT)

Do you mean the head that has the bionics?Or is it another one your thinkingof? :huh:

Just another possibility if you don't consider him to be bald. I can't remember the description from the book but he looks like he would pass as a quite adequate senior figure.

P.S. this site is a very good reference point for all sorts of bits when you are thinking of the parts to make up marines. They seem to have most parts - just spotted Mk4 helmets in the black templar section.

P.P.S. the site has nothing to do with me!! <_< I'm not advertising my warez!!

Weiss - February 20, 2008 10:43 AM (GMT)

Cheers for that Iacton, shall have to have a more in-depth look at that site. I would green stuff a short buzz-cut on him anyway, personally. I haven't seen the haired head painted anything other than blond so far, but it does look like it could be good.

[Edit] Had a look. That's disusting, the MkIV head is double the price of every other head on there, and even more than the MkIV torso...

Torg - February 20, 2008 10:53 AM (GMT)

Hmm,Interesting,I'll have to look into the site tomorrow,thanks for the infoguys! :D I didn't realize what kind of head to use until now!

Weiss - February 20, 2008 11:14 AM (GMT)

No probs. What head did you decide to use?

Vredesbyrd - February 20, 2008 01:38 PM (GMT)

The Mk. IV Head is so expensive because you get one of them in the £12 Black Templars box.

Alright if you only need one, no good if you want alot. Quicker than Forgeworld though.

Weiss - February 20, 2008 02:10 PM (GMT)

It's a £15 box (I play BT), and you get just as many MkIV heads as you get MkIV torsos, or any others (2 per box).

Updated first post to include all the characters I could find for the 52nd Expedition.

Iacton - February 20, 2008 04:03 PM (GMT)

QUOTE (Weiss @ Feb 20 2008, 10:43 AM)

Cheers for that Iacton, shall have to have a more in-depth look at that site. I would green stuff a short buzz-cut on him anyway, personally. I haven't seen the haired head painted anything other than blond so far, but it does look like it could be good.

[Edit] Had a look. That's disusting, the MkIV head is double the price of every other head on there, and even more than the MkIV torso...

:lol: Supply and demand.

Some of the heads i.e. just about every mk7, are something like 50p for 8 boxes of them because nobody is interested in doing a chapter of vanilla girls from M41.

If it wasn't for these guys you would have to pay forgeworlds prices or buy 5 templar upgrade sprues just to make 1 squad. :angry:

I actually commend him for his enterprise. It is the ultimate bits box!! They have just started to include some forgeworld stuff in the last few days, so you never know but you might get the red scorp mk4 heads there soon?

It also pays to look right round the site cos sometimes the same part is advertised at different prices! ssssshhhhhhhh! ;)

Weiss - February 20, 2008 05:06 PM (GMT)

Cheers for that man. It's weird, I sent the thing to the basket and it said 83p, I'm assuming that doesn't include VAT.

7 heads and 7 torsos will put you back £11.49...

Magos Explorator - February 20, 2008 05:44 PM (GMT)

At that price it's cheaper to buy the Red Scorpions kit from FW and then sell the shoulder pads...

Weiss - February 21, 2008 08:18 AM (GMT)

It would seem so, though that depends on how much you get for the shoulderpads...

Magos Explorator - February 21, 2008 03:26 PM (GMT)

Well a set of 10 costs you £8 from Forge World. I've bought a few of the upgrade packs and sold off the pads for £7 for 10, which works out at about £10 for 10 of each of the Mark IV helmets and torsos. Plus you get the upgrade sprue for the Veteran Sergeant, with the extra torso and head. The only catch is having to wait a few weeks for your order, but as I don't have much time to build or paint that isn't too big a hassle. ;-)

Of course, I don't know what the pricing is like for other countries!

Weiss - February 21, 2008 03:40 PM (GMT)

Aaah, you mean the set of ten pads for £8... Sorry, you just sent me scurrying over to Forgeworld thinking I had misread the price of the upgrade pack...

Also, do the MkIVs from Forgeworld look weird next to the MkIVs from GW?

Torg - February 22, 2008 12:58 AM (GMT)

Weiss,I decided to use the head with the cybernetics,as that one says "Iron hands" to me,I saw it and said "ahh yeah,Santar's getting a face tonight!"Better than having, just no face and in a Termi helm,would look cool!Can't wait to add it! :D

Hey was wondering, I got my hands on 2 of those Tech marines that have a Cybernetic arm with pistol,was thinking about making one of them into Balhaanwould that be a good base model for him? :huh:(you know the techmarine from the metal command squad back in the day!) :)

Weiss - March 6, 2008 09:50 AM (GMT)

Sounds good, though you would need to add a cloak, and probably use a different backpack (he isn't mentioned as having a servo-arm).

Itkovian - March 3, 2009 06:39 PM (GMT)

Evening all!

Following info kindly provided by a certain konstantinos from Greece, I have edited out the final entries in the miscellaneous section, as euboa is an island in greece (though connected to the mainland by a road - think Isle of Sheppey, southerners) and Artemision is the place (in greece again) where a naval battle between the greeks and persians took place.

Thanks again for clearing that up, konstantinos!

konstantinos - January 8, 2010 10:22 PM (GMT)

i was away on a tour of operations an internet was not an option there! :( Itkovian always a pleasure to help an iron hand palyer...